How To Fix Known Verizon Galaxy S3 Problems and Errors [Part 4]

Hi Verizon Galaxy S3 owners! This is the 4th part of this series and we’ve received even more emails ever since we started supporting the device. There are only five problems cited in this post but each problem has different occurrence. Please browse through this post in case you are currently bugged by a problem or two with your phone.

You may also visit the first 3 parts of this series to find out if we’ve already addressed your problem. In case, we haven’t, feel free to email us at mailbag@thedroidguy.com and provide as much details as possible. When sending an email, please make sure you include the model of your phone, version of Android running on it, and your service provider.

Get Rid of Ads in Notification Bar

Problem 1: Hello Harold. I’m glad you guys decided to publish articles support Galaxy S3 on Verizon. I have an issue with my phone, it’s not really a big problem but very annoying. There is an unknown icon in the notification bar of my Galaxy S3 and when I pull it down to swipe it away, it would just go back a few minutes later. I don’t have an idea how it started or when. It just showed there one day and I wish I can just swipe it away like any other notifications. Do you know something that could get rid of this icon?

Problem 2: Hi guys. Can you help me out here, please. There is a green plus (+) sign at the top of the screen and when I touch it, it launches a white page with nothing on it. Sometimes, the page shows some photos or videos that I don’t have a clue what. Have you heard of this problem before? I’m sure you’ve encountered it already after hundreds of problems you guys addressed. Please let me know a way to get rid of it. Thanks.

Problem 3: My phone, a Galaxy S3 from Verizon, has started showing a star in the notification bar. When I pull down the notification bar and touch the star, it brings me to different websites. I’m using mobile data for my internet and ever since I got this star in my phone, my data usage increased noticeably. It’s as if it’s using my data without my knowledge. How can I fix this problem?

Solution: Those icons you guys can see in your notification bar are push ads. They are often tied to an app you installed. Some developers use this to monetize their apps, although I understand how annoying it is, I can’t blame developers if they chose this method to earn from their apps. Don’t worry, you can easily dismiss these ads. Here are things you can do to get rid of these ads:

Step 1: Uninstall the app that brings along these ads. If you don’t know which app it is, go to the Application Manager and display contents of “Running” tab. Any third-party that’s running when the ad showed app is a suspect. You can force close each of those apps one-by-one to know which one runs the ad.

Step 2: Block the app’s notifications. Since these ads often shows as notifications, you can actually block them by unchecking the “Show Notifications” option from the app’s settings page. Of course, you still need to know which app is causing all this.

Step 3: Perform master reset. There are times when ads won’t go away even if you’ve already successfully uninstalled the app. If these push ads are very annoying to you and causes some other issued in your phone like draining your battery or something, it’s worth the hassle of backing up your data and performing factory reset.

Step 4: Don’t install apps from the same developer. If you’ve successfully identified the app that’s backing these ads, do not reinstall it or download other apps from the same developer. While I understand these people need to earn to continue developing apps, their monetization method is unacceptable.

Verizon Galaxy S3 Can’t Access Play Store

Problem 1: Hi, I recently received a notification to update some of my apps. After doing all those updates, the Google Play Store will not load anymore. What happens is that when I touch the app, it seems to flash really quick but immediately closes bringing me back to the Home screen. Now, I can’t download/install apps from the Play Store anymore. How should I fix this problem?

Problem 2: Hello guys, when I open the Google Play Store app, it is asking me to sign in and it fails all the time. Do you know what caused this problem and how I can fix this? Thanks in advance.

Problem 3: My Galaxy S3 cannot install apps. I am on Verizon and I have unlimited internet. But when I open the Play Store to download and install apps, it’s giving me an error message, “An error occurred. Please try again.” Is there a way to fix this? – Trina

Solution: There could be a lot of reasons why Google Play Store fails to load, asking your sign in or displays an error message. But I suggest you follow the steps below to further troubleshoot your problems with the Play Store:

Step 1: Reboot your phone. This is recommended to phones that have problems after any sort of updates.

Step 2: Check your internet connection. If you cannot sign in successfully, make sure you have an active internet connection. Remember, the Google Play Store app needs to sync with Google servers and to be able to do that you must have a connection.

Step 3: Clear Cache and Data. If the problem persists, let’s try to reset the Play Store app to its default settings by clearing the cache and data.

Step 4: Uninstall Updates. Aside from Clear Cache and Clear Data buttons, you can also find the Uninstall Updates button in Google Play Store settings page. This is your second-to-the-last resort to fix this problem. What this does is bring back the app to its previous version. This works almost every time so it sure is worth a try after doing the previous steps.

Step 5: Factory Reset. This is your last resort. For a phone that cannot download and install apps from its native app store, I’m sure it’s worth the hassle of backing up all your data.

Verizon Galaxy S3 Can’t Successfully Download Apps

Problem 1: Hello Droid guys. I love your tips and solutions series, keep it up. By the way, I recently encountered a problem with my Galaxy S3. Whenever I download an app from the Play Store, it returns an error ‘Download was unsuccessful.’ Have encountered this problem before, and if so, how can you fix this? Thanks guys.!

Problem 2: Love your support articles guys. I have a question for you, what will you do if you download an app and download bar just keeps going and going infinitely? I mean, when you download an app from the Play Store, there is a progress bar that displays the percentage, right? Well, in my case, it doesn’t. It just keeps going without any sight of being finished. Can you help me out, please. Thanks.

Solution: Factors that may lead to these problems are interrupted internet connection, unstable app, and insufficient memory. Based on these, these are my suggestions you do to troubleshoot the problem:

Step 1: Make sure you have an active internet connection. Although, you’ll be getting a “No connection” error if this was the case, still you need to check your internet connection if you have issue with the Google Play Store. Try browsing to some websites or checking your inbox for new emails.

Step 2: Clear Cache and Data. Yes, try clearing both the cache and data of the Google Play Store and check to see if the problem was fixed. If not, do the same for the Download Manager service.

Step 3: Make sure your phone has sufficient storage space. If you’re trying to download a large game or app and you’re getting this error, the problem could be because there isn’t enough space to store data of the app you’re trying to download. If you have an SD card mounted in your phone, move previously installed apps to it to free some space. Do the same for your pictures and videos.

Step 4: Uninstall Play Store Updates. If the problem persists, the problem may be with the Play Store update. Go to the application manager again, find Play Store and hit the Uninstall Updates button.

Verizon Galaxy S3 Has Unstable Wi-Fi

Problem 1: Hi Harold and The Droid Guy team, thanks for all these helpful articles. I have a problem with my phone when connecting to the internet. It says ‘Your Internet connection is unstable’. This only shows on my Galaxy S3 and not in my other phones and tablets. What could be the problem?

Problem 2: Hi guys, I have a very annoying problem with my phone. I have a Wi-Fi at home and am subscribed to Verizon’s unlimited data plan. When I’m at home, I’m not using mobile data to save battery and reduce heat on my phone (it heats up when I’m using mobile data). However, it often disconnects from Wi-Fi and connect to mobile data. How can I prevent that?

Problem 3: My S3 is connected to our Wi-fi network but there’s no internet. I mean I can’t browse a website, can’t send an email and can’t download apps. But in the Wi-Fi settings, it says the phone is connected to the network. Why is this happening? How can I fix this?

Solution: While Wi-Fi problems seem minor, they’re very complicated sometimes considering there are several factors that could lead to these problems. Here are my suggestions to troubleshoot these problems:

Step 1: Reboot your phone. There are times when the phone glitches and refreshing its memory through reboot could fix the problem. You may also try to soft-reset: take the battery out of the phone while it’s on, then press and hold the power key while the battery is out for about a minute.

Step 2: Make sure the problems is with your phone. If you have other devices, try to connect to your network. If they can and your phone cannot, then the problem is with the phone. Otherwise, fix your internet connection or network first.

Step 3: Forget your network. For stability issues, go to your phone’s Wi-fi settings and Forget the network it’s currently connected to. Then, let it scan and connect to the same network. See if that helps. Also, make sure that Keep Wi-Fi on during sleep is set to Always.

Step 4: Do not allow auto network switching. There is an option in your phone to automatically switch networks depending on the strength of signals it receives. It is a good feature but the problem is that when your Wi-fi signal drops lower than the mobile data, it automatically switches and vice versa. So I suggest you turn that feature off:

Navigate to Settings > Wi-Fi.

Long press the existing connection.

Tap Forget network.

Press the Menu key.

Tap Advanced.

Verify that Keep Wi-Fi on during sleep is set to Always.

Remove the checkmark from Auto network switch.

Verizon Galaxy S3 Cannot Boot Up Successfully

Problem 1: Hi guys, I need your help. My phone shut down the other night and when I finished charging and attempted to turn it back on, it was stuck on the Samsung logo. I left it in that state for more than 30 minutes thinking it could be fixed on its own but no. It’s still stuck there. I removed the battery, press the power key for 30 seconds, attempted to turn it back on again but still the problem is there. What could have caused this problem and how can I fix this?

Problem 2: I think there was an update recently and I have not rebooted my phone after that. By the time my phone’s battery was all drained and I tried turning back on, the screen stayed black. I was able to see the logo but after that, it stays on the black screen for God knows how long. I really need your advice guys because I’m using this phone for my job. Thanks.

Solution: The thing about being stuck during boot up is that it could be caused by an app or the firmware itself. And based on that, here is a couple of procedures I want you to try.

Step 1: Boot to Safe Mode. This is necessary to rule out the possibility that it is a third-party app that’s causing all this. If you the phone boots up successfully in safe mode, then our suspicion is confirmed. While in that state, find the app that’s causing the problem and uninstall it. Here’s how you boot to safe mode…

Turn the device off.

Press and hold the Power key.

When ‘Samsung Galaxy S III’ appears on the screen, release the Power key Immediately after releasing the Power key, press and hold the Volume down key.

Continue to hold the Volume down key until the device finishes restarting.

‘Safe mode’ will display in the bottom left corner of the screen. Release the Volume down key when you see ‘Safe Mode.’

Step 2: Boot to recovery mode and wipe cache partition. You only have to do this in case the phone can’t boot to safe mode. Based on your messages, I think there’s no problem with the firmware so I’m sure you can boot to recovery mode. Once in there, wipe the cache partition and reboot the phone. Here’s how…

Turn off the device.

Press and hold the following three buttons at the same time: Volume Up key, Home key and Power key

When the phone vibrates, let go of the Power key but continue to press and hold the Volume Up key and the Home key.

When the Android System Recovery screen appears, release the Volume Up and Home keys.

Press the Volume Down key to highlight ‘wipe cache partition.’

Press the Power key to select and wipe the cache.

With ‘reboot system now’ highlighted, press the Power key to restart the device.

Engage with us

Feel free to send us your questions, suggestions and problems you’ve encountered while using your Android phone. We support every Android that is available in the market today. And don’t worry, we won’t charge you a single penny for your emails. Email us via mailbag@thedroidguy.com any time. We read every email but can’t guarantee a response. Lastly, if we were able to help you, please help us spread the word by sharing our posts with your friends or visit our Troubleshooting Page. Thanks.